


An Earlier Heaven

by snowshus



Category: DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 08:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20005543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowshus/pseuds/snowshus
Summary: Hal wasn’t entirely sure what the whole deal was with his downstairs neighbors.





	An Earlier Heaven

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salazarastark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salazarastark/gifts).



> thanks to my wonderful friends who read over this for me
> 
> "A happy family is but an earlier heaven" - Shaw

Hal wasn’t entirely sure what the whole deal was with his downstairs neighbors. For years the blonde man who lived below him had been just a nameless figure that Hal had watched from his favorite spot on the fire escape. He was always coming home late and leaving early - cute but probably a work-a-holic. Then one day the kid had shown up. The first time Hal had seen him he’d been sneaking out the window with an overstuffed backpack, his bright orange hair sticking up in all directions. Hal had watched him hop down onto the dumpster lid and book it down Second Street. 

Two hours later there began the insistent knock on his door. The blonde stood there sweating and dishevelled like he’d just run a marathon in his suit and tie.

“Hi, I’m Barry, I live downstairs.” He panted holding out a sweaty hand and barrelling on without waiting for Hal to reply, “I’ve noticed you sitting out on the fire escape most nights and I was wondering if you’d happen to see a kid leaving the building - about fifteen, orange hair - well you were up there.”

Hal knew a thing or two about needing to running away and next to nothing about this man. Though his soft blue eyes looked kind and worried, Hal also knew looks could be deceiving so he’d lied. He shrugged apologetically but promising to keep an eye out. Hal didn’t see when the kid came back but a week later he was crawling out the window again. 

“Hey kid,” Hal’d called down. “Why don’t you come up, have a drink with me?”

“Why?”

“Cause I’m a good neighbor and my couch is a lot closer than your girlfriend’s, if less fun.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” the kid remarked climbing up to Hal’s perch.

“Then my couch has all the advantages.” Hal held out a can of soda. 

“Not going to share your beer?” The kid asked leaning against the banister.

“You got ID?” Hal shot back. 

The kid took the soda can but didn’t open it.

“I’m Hal, nice to meet you neighbor.”

“Wally,” The kid said, popping the top off the soda. “If anything happens to me Barry will kick your ass,” he added in warning before sitting down.

“He kick your ass?” Hal asked, trying to spot any signs of bruising on the kids long bare arms.

Wally snorted, “that was subtle.”

“I was never good at subtle.” Hal shrugged. “Does he?”

“No,” Wally shook his head and scuffed the toes of his beat up sneakers on the grating of the fire escape. “Barry wouldn’t do anything like that.”

“So why are you sneaking out the window?” Hal asked, watching Wally fidget. 

“Dunno,” Wally shrugged uncomfortably. “Just got to get out, you know.”

“I know,” Hal acknowledged. “I used to run away a lot too, drove my mom crazy.”

“Yeah? She kick your ass?” Wally looked over at Hal curiously.

“No, she just never let up you know, especially after my dad died. Sometimes I just needed to get away from it.”

Wally nodded and started tapping his fingers against the rim of the can. “Barry’s trying real hard to like be a dad I guess, and it’s just a lot sometimes.”

Hal wanted to follow up on that. He wanted to ask about what that relationship was and how Wally had ended up in the apartment downstairs but he’d pried enough for one night. Besides there were more immediate concerns. 

“So Barry’s probably going to come ask if I’ve seen you when he gets home. Can I tell him you’re here?”

Wally shrugged.

“I don’t have to, if you don’t want him to know.” Hal assured him.

“It’s fine,” Wally mumbled.

“Okay. You don’t have to go back home, if you don’t want to. I meant what I said about my couch being open.”

Wally nodded, which Hal took to mean he’d be staying the night, and changed the subject. 

“I got some leftover chinese in the fridge, you hungry?”

“Always,” Wally said following Hal back through the window into his apartment. If Wally were anyone other then a teenage boy Hal might have been embarrassed by the state of his place. Dirty laundry was piled on the couch, he hadn’t vacuumed in months, maybe a year, what few dishes he owned were all dirty and piled on the table, and the trash was already overflowing with take out containers. He was going to clean them soon. He just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

“Let’s see we have sweet and sour chicken, um lo mein, and…” Hal dug another white carton out, “ew, that’s no good. I should throw that out.” He said putting the carton back in the fridge. 

“Do you ever eat anything that’s not take out?” Wally asked wrinkling his nose.

“I’m a busy guy,” Hal argued, which was only sort of true. When Lantern Security had a job, he and his team were usually working around the clock sometimes for weeks. However, Green team was currently on their time off rotation and had been for the past two weeks. 

Wally raised a doubtful eye.

“Just eat.” Hal thrust the sweet and sour chicken towards him. 

He had Wally set up with a video game when the anticipated knock comes.

Barry, from downstairs, with his tousled blonde hair and soft blue eyes is there shifting from foot to foot. “Hey. It’s Barry, from downstairs, again. I don’t suppose you’ve seen my kid today.”

Hal stepped out into the hall, making sure the door closed behind him.

“He’s inside.”

“Really, that’s great.” Barry’s face transformed with relief and he moved towards the door. Hal stopped him with a hand on his chest.

“I can’t let you go in.”

“Are you kidding?” Barry blinked in shock. 

“Look, I know I don’t know whatever the situation is here, but I told him he didn’t have to go back with you tonight. And I figure if he’s going to be running away every week you’d rather he was safe in the building than spending the night on the street. So I can’t let you in,” Hal explained.

“How do I know you don’t have him like tied up in you sex dungeon?” Barry asked, his hands curled into fists and Hal braced himself for a fight, apparently Wally hadn’t been bluffing when he said Barry would kick his ass if anything happened to him. 

“Well first off, if I was keeping him tied in my sex dungeon - which for the record would not be in my apartment, it would be in the basement behind the laundry room like a sex dungeon should be - I would have just told you I hadn’t seen him. And second, you’ll just have to trust me, I’ll see if I can get him to text you.” 

Barry didn’t move for a long time, just stared into Hal’s eyes - assessing. 

“I want a text by 10 o’clock or I’m breaking down your door,” He acquiesced 

Hal nodded, “thanks.” 

Barry just dropped his head with a sigh and headed back towards the stairs. His slumped shoulders the picture of dejection.

“Hey,” Hal called after him, “You’re doing a good job, with him.”

“Sure,” Barry laughed bitterly, “that’s why he’d rather spent the night in a strangers apartment.”

Wally crashing on Hal’s couch for a day or two became a pretty regular occurrence after that. When his rotation ended Hal took to leaving his window unlocked when he wasn’t going to be home for a few days. Hal’s wasn’t the only place Wally disappeared to. If Hal was home on those days Barry had started coming up to join him on his perch on the fire escape. At first to ask if Hal had seen which direction Wally had gone, then just to hang out drinking beer and talking. Mostly he talked about Wally, about how he was doing in school and where he was that night, if Hal thought Barry should be worried about that one friend who was like four years older. Sometimes about work and the weirdest murders to found in central city. And when they were all together “eating real food, Hal, seriously, you can’t just eat take out” Barry and Wally would get so deep into the science of it that Hal was often left blown away by how smart that kid was. Sometimes he almost felt like maybe this is what being part of a family might be like. 

It was funny. Before Wally had dropped into Barry’s life Hal had spent most of his evenings alone, eating take out or left overs and watching the world pass by below him. Now, he rarely went more than a week without someone joining him on his stoop. 

It had been almost a year since Wally first showed up and Hal has started his vacation rotation again. It was in fact his first day back on stoop in almost two weeks. The summer was already starting to wane but the days were still long. He heard the clang of the fire escape ladder as Wally jumped down onto the dumpster and headed down the street. He turned back to look up and Hal raised his bottle in salute. Wally nodded back. Hal watched him until he disappeared down around a corner then picked up his phone.

“Thank you for calling the Central City Police Departments non-emergency line, how can I help you?” The familiar voice of the dispatcher came through.

“Can you connect me to Barry Allen’s extension?” Hal asked.

“Of course, one moment.” The voice remained pleasant and there was a click and the phone started ringing again. On the fourth ring Barry finally picked up.

“Hello?”

“Your kid’s running away again,” Hal informed him.

“Thanks for the heads up, what time is it?” Barry asked and something falls in the background. “Shit.”

“Almost 8,” Hal replied, used to the disoriented way Barry got when he was interrupted in the lab. 

“Crap, I didn’t realize it had gotten that late. I’ll be home in a minute.” Barry voice sounded far away, and Hal assumed he was trying to pick up whatever fell earlier. “Shit,” Hal heard the familiar curse one more time before there was a louder thud and dial tone cut them off. 

Barry swung up to join Hal, as the sun started setting.

“All good?” Hal asked handing him a beer. 

“Staying at Roy’s again.” Barry took a long drink. 

They sat there in companionable silence watching the sun set. 

Hal picked at the label of the bottle, “Can I ask an awkward question?” 

“Sure,” Barry took another pull of the beer.

“So about Wally, he doesn’t look anything like you…” Hal started trailing off with the implied question.

“No,” Barry shook his head. “He’s my ex-wife’s nephew and it is so complicated I’m not entirely sure I haven’t accidentally, technically kidnapped him.

Hal nodded and stayed quiet, inviting Barry to continue.

“Iris, my ex-wife, I think still has the legal custody, we’re working on that. Her work isn’t good for taking care of a kid on her own. She travels a lot for stories and can be out of contact for days sometimes weeks. We were worried the social workers wouldn’t think she was a good environment for him.” Barry paused, biting his lip. “We both lost our original families. Me and Iris, I mean. I guess Wally too, now. I got lucky, my not-quite-step-dad got custody of me after my mom died and he was really great. Iris, on the other hand, got complicated. I don’t even really know everything that happened with her childhood. I know her brother is an asshole and she was still so mad at her dad she didn’t even want to invite him to our wedding. She, we, didn’t Wally to have to depend on luck. Not when I was here.”

“So his parent’s-”

“Jail, where they can rot.” The scorn with which Barry replied said all Hal needed to know about them.

“You hungry?” Barry asked standing up, “Since Wally’s out I’ve got more than enough food.”

“I’d never say no to cafe Allen.” Hal agreed letting the subject drop.

Hal didn’t see Barry again for almost a week. That night there was a string of grisly murders and Barry had to stay late every night working in his lap. Wally came up to spend the day with Hal, playing video games and ordering pizza. They were playing Mario Kart, and despite using one hand to hold his pizza, Wally was still lapping Hal. 

“So, are you gonna like ask Barry out?” He asked, and Hal had just enough composure to not drive off the side of Rainbow Bridge at the question.

“I-no?”

“I mean if you did he’d probably say yes,” Wally picked up another slice of pizza.

“You think?” Hal concentrated very hard on the little Luigi car as he guided it down the road.

Wally shrugged, “probably.” On screen the crowd erupts in cheers as he crosses the finish line. Luigi shakes his head in defeat. 

“Would you mind?” Hal asked putting down the controller and grabbing his own slice of pizza.

“If I did I wouldn’t have brought it up.” Wally scrolled through the menu looking for another race. “I mean I figured if I just left you guys alone you’d do something, but I think Roy’s getting annoyed with me sleeping on his couch all the time.”

“That’s why you’ve been running away so much recently?” Hal asked.

Wally shrugged, “I there are other reasons too.”

“You sure you’d be okay with it?” Hal checked again.

“I told you I was,” Wally selected the race and Hal sighed inwardly, Mute City is by far his least favorite.

“Okay, okay. Do you think Roy will mind you spending one more night?” Hal pushed down on the nerves that sprang to life at the prospect of dating.

“Oh yeah, he’ll be fine.” Wally exited the race and stood up.

“Not tonight,” Hal pulled Wally back down. “When Barry’s done with this case.” 

“Oh, yeah.” Wally sat back down and they started the race up again.

The case took almost two weeks to wrap up. It was almost cold in the evenings when Hal sat up on fire escape perch watching the world pass so far beneath him. Below him the ladder clanged and Wally headed down the street with his overflowing backpack. He turned back to look up and Hal raises his bottle in salute. Wally nodded back and Hal watched until he disappeared down around a corner then grabbed his phone. 

“Thank you for calling the Central City Police Departments non-emergency line, how can I help you?” The familiar voice of the dispatcher came through.

“Can you connect me to Barry Allen’s extension?” Hal asked.

“Of course, one moment.” The voice remained pleasant and there was a click and the phone started ringing again. On the fourth ring Barry finally picked up.

“Hello?”

“Your kid’s running away again,” Hal informed him.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Barry replied. “What time is it?”

“Only like 5:30. You’re not late yet.” Hal reassured him.

“Oh, did you see which way he went?” Barry asked.

“Down Second Street,” Hal shifted, trying to build up the courage for what would come next. “He mentioned something about going to Roy’s last time we talked.”

“Thanks, I don’t know what I’d do if we didn’t have you.” 

“You’d be fine.” Hal said and took a deep breathe. “Hey since you’re plan for the night took off did you want to maybe go out for dinner with me.”

The pause between his question and Barry’s answer was probably not very long, but it felt lik an eternity to Hal. “Yes, yes I’d like that very much.” Barry said, then added. “I’ve always wanted to see that sex dungeon you have in laundry room.”

Hal’s laugh was half humor and half surprise. “I’ll give the private tour.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”


End file.
